Dawes - Oh Brother

Out Oct 11

Dawes 2024 – The official website of recording artist Dawes.


Dawes Oh Brother

A homegrown, sticky, raw record made in a room the size of a bathroom over the course of a couple weeks. The collection of songs has some dark jokers, some pulverizers, some movers and groovers - all in an attempt to shed light on the variety of underlying joys and anxieties inherent to being alive in 2024.
A1. Mister Los Angeles
A2. Front Row Seat
A3. Still Strangers Sometimes
A4. Surprise!
A5. House Parties
B1. King of the Never-Wills
B2. The Game
B3. Enough Already
B4. Hilarity Ensues

 

Yes please!

 

For the first time in almost a decade, brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith grace the cover of a Dawes record. It’s just the two of them this time, and as such, Oh Brother marks a distinctive new chapter for the California rock band — one that is both introspective and accessible, all while maintaining their beloved sense of sincerity.

After the amicable departure of two bandmates last year, Taylor realized that the group’s natural evolution was nothing to hide from Dawes’ dedicated fans. He likens it to looking back on The Rolling Stones’ career — eras with Brian Jones versus Ronnie Wood — or Dire Straits’ lineup with and without brothers Mark and David Knopfler together, or The Cure’s fluctuating cast encircling Robert Smith. People change. Music evolves. But a band is still a band.

“We’re not shying away from this information, because then it just seems cowardly or something,” Taylor says. “Rather than try to hide something, let’s celebrate it. Let’s call our record Oh Brother.” The title of Dawes’ ninth LP serves as a sort of double entendre too, an exasperated sigh acknowledging that change can still be challenging. “We’re gonna miss our dudes,” he says. “They’re still brothers.”

Still, Oh Brother steers Dawes decidedly forward, honoring 15 years of Taylor and Griffin’s musical relationship, as well as the next era of their band. That spirit informed much of the album’s writing and recording, too. Each of the nine songs began with just Taylor on guitar and vocals and Griffin on drums. They initially tracked each one live together, before adding in additional instrumentation and collaborating with touring guitarist Trevor Menear in the studio. Additionally, Oh Brother is the first record the brothers have co-produced, working alongside longtime friend Mike Viola.

Lyrically, the songs on Oh Brother encompass personal moments in their lives and larger ideas of what consistency and stability mean. “House Parties,” a musical sibling to 2015’s “All Your Favorite Bands,” came toward the end of the recording process for 2022’s Misadventures of Doomscroller. Shortly thereafter, “The Game” and “Surprise!” — a six-and-a-half-minute not-quite-center, centerpiece about life not going as expected — came as Taylor was settling into fatherhood. Elsewhere, “King of the Never-Wills” subtly addresses addiction and “Mister Los Angeles” serves as a sardonically satirical commentary on their hometown.

At this point in the Goldsmiths’ career, Dawes has cemented itself as one of the most earnest, no-bullshit musical acts out there. To some degree, Taylor acquiesces, “I definitely choose to believe that definitive work can always be out in front of us instead of behind us, but it’s also a fact that we have established a personality.” They’re a band that can move seamlessly between folk rock, piano ballads, and sprawling jams while maintaining both an immediately recognizable sound and a freedom from expectations.

Across its heartfelt songs — sometimes silly and sometimes serious, and all filled with sing-along choruses, deeply felt poetic lyrics, and sterling musicianship — Oh Brother highlights the band’s independence. Even as the Goldsmith brothers navigate new chapters in their personal and professional lives, they remain creative, ambitious, and inspired. “All you can really do is find out what are the most essential, truest, and idiosyncratic parts of yourself,” Taylor says. “And I like the fact that Griffin and I are kind of clinging to each other and holding on to each other more than we ever have. We’re grateful for each other in a new way. But we’ve also been through a lot.

“It feels like we’re reborn in a way, and I mean that with so, so much love and gratitude to everyone we’ve ever played with before! This is what it means to be a lifer, to have iterations. It means having phases and chapters, and this is a very clear delineation as to the beginning of a new one. So Oh Brother feels like a ninth record, but it also feels like a first record.”

 

let’s get it

 

who is playing bass

 

You.

 

sounds like it’s Mike Viola based on today’s newsletter haha

 

Sad to see the others go but I hope they turn this into a Steely Dan situation and just bring in incredible session players to fill in everything

 

Not a shocking pick, tbh.

 

ooo never thought of that, would absolutely love that

 

Lol. Also this is out tomorrow!

 

on my first listen, I was enjoying this a lot, as I do with all of their albums, but then it went to another level around track 4 and honestly never let up. I couldn't really put my finger on whether that was a reflection on the songs themselves or just me connecting with what they are doing here and getting onto the same wavelength. I feel like I was grinning hard from ear-to-ear from that point on though until the album ended.

I cannot wait to spend a lot more time with this album

 

I was bumping against the production on my listen yesterday. They've made so many great-sounding albums, and this one felt off to me in a way I couldn't totally put my finger on. Hoping that subsides as I spend more time with it.

 

They really seemed to have leaned into the Warren Zevon influence on this album.

 

Really digging this one. Lots of fun sounds and grooves.

 

Man, there's some killer guitar work on this album.

 

cannot overstate how much i dislike the opener here jesus christ

 

Yeah, I'm not big on the opener either. Similar to Good Luck with Whatever, this album starts with easily its worst and most annoying song.

 

yeah pretty disappointed in this. i like still strangers sometimes and the run from house parties to the game but idk who the rest of this is for

 

it took me a little while to come to terms with it, but I don't really like the first two tracks on here, but after that I like all of the songs, and some of them are really great

 

I liked the early versions of Mister Los Angelas when Taylor was playing it acoustic. Reminded me a lot of Prine’s Crazy As A Loon or Other Side of Town, but yeah the new direction he took the song is interesting to say the least. And the “haaaa” at the beginning and the “yeaaaaaaaaaaah” in the middle are just annoying.

 

It's growing on my a little bit, but it's easily my least favorite Dawes album. It has exactly the problem I was worried it would have, which is that it's lost the "band in a room" feel that I prized from them for so long. Losing the other two guys hurts.

 

They performed on Kimmel last night and it was not good. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing Taylor perform with out a guitar in his hands.